From Publishers Weekly
Best known for his Chicago-based mystery series (
Time of the Assassins, etc.), Holton, who died in 2001, compiled a compelling nonfiction collection of black officers' experiences in American law enforcement. While the majority of the 28 subjects, including Holton himself, belong to large metropolitan forces (Chicago, Los Angeles and New York), Holton also focuses on those who work for sheriff's departments, state police agencies and prisons. Notable highlights include Capt. Sam Welch of Indiana State Corrections, who observes that serving in Vietnam steeled him for working in prisons; Chicago PD Officer Tanya Junior, married to a fellow Chicago cop, who despite the dangers of her job considers herself just another public servant; and retired Chicago PD commander Hubert Holton (the author's father), who is proud that he and the author were the only father and son in the department's history to be commanders at the same time. Race is by no means the only unifying factor in these stories: the men and women Holton selected are all exemplary law enforcement officers committed to protecting and serving their communities.
(Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Holton, a Chicago police officer and author of more than 10 books, offers a collection of first-person accounts by black police officers, male and female, working primarily in urban areas across the nation. The contributors recall personal background and what lead led? them to careers in law enforcement, then recount dangerous drug busts and encounters with gangbangers, and the tension between lawbreakers and law enforcers, particularly given the lopsided representation of minorities among the criminals. The reader senses in each of these stories a proud tradition of black men and women enforcing the nation’s laws. What is omitted is any mention of racial tension within the various police departments. Holton died before the book was completed, and the editor notes Holton’s reluctance and that of the 28 contributors to discuss the issue of racial discrimination and the police. Yet within their stories they often convey the significance of race and their own racialized experiences as police in service to their communities. A revealing look at police work from the perspective of black officers. --Vernon Ford
